1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a patient monitor for monitoring the vital signs of a patient and also detecting the presence of liquid in an oral airway or an endotrachial appliance positioned in a patient's throat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Respiration devices and alarm systems for such devices, are well known in the art. Alarms are provided for alerting an operator when a patient is not breathing or the patient's breathing is falling outside of a normal breathing pattern. Respiratory devices provided with alarms are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,798,629, 3,802,417, 3,961,627, 4,287,886, 4,366,821, 4,368,740, 4,413,632, and 4,417,589.
In addition to the importance of respiration it is important to monitor other vital functions such as temperature and heart rate to insure patient's body is functioning correctly. A vital signs monitor that monitors heart rate, temperature and environmental oxygen is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,888. It is also known to combine vital signs monitor with a device for monitoring respiration to provide a diagnostic device, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,908. Such devices can be made extremely compact with the advancement of microprocessor technology. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,125.
Using microprocessors in anesthesia and intensive care to monitor the progress of a patient while also providing alarms signals to an operator to facilitate treatment are very important, see Microprocessors in Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology (Vol. 7, No. 6, Nov-Dec 83) by G. J. Ball. The Present invention provides a vital signs monitor that is very compact so that it can be attached to an oral airway or an endotrachial applicance and also detect and alert an operator when liquid needs to be evacuated by the appliance.